Total Articles: 10

Recently, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted “An Act to Amend the Law Regarding a Certificate of Relief For Criminal Convictions” (the “Act”). The Act will become effective on December 1, 2018, and applies to petitions for relief filed on or after that date.

Since 2011, North Carolina has provided the opportunity for an individual who has been convicted of certain crimes to petition our courts for a “certificate of relief.” A new law that goes into effect on December 1, 2018, expands the availability of these certificates of relief while imposing some additional requirements on applicants.

A bi-partisan privacy and data security bill, which will significantly impact companies with North Carolina employees, is in the works. North Carolina State Representative Jason Saine (R), Appropriations Chairman of Information Technology, has joined with North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein (D) to strengthen protections against identity theft in North Carolina. The unique pair are co-authoring a bill titled, “The Act to Strengthen Identity Theft Protections” (the “Bill”). Through the Bill, the authors desire to provide stronger protections, while at the same time avoid hampering innovation in the private sector.

Citing to estimates in 2017 “more than 5.3 million North Carolinians were … affected by a data breach,” Attorney General Josh Stein and Rep. Jason Saine announced on January 8 proposed legislation aimed at protecting state residents from becoming victims of identity theft.

Many employers rely on pre-dispute arbitration agreements, usually entered at the beginning of employment, to resolve disputes that may arise during employment. The objective is to address matters through binding and private arbitration rather than public litigation. Now a bipartisan coalition in Congress, including Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., and Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., is trying to make arbitration agreements unenforceable in any “sex discrimination dispute.”

Starting December 31, 2017, the North Carolina Industrial Commission will have a permanent Employee Classification Section responsible for taking complaints about and facilitating the sharing of information among state and federal agencies regarding the misclassification of employees as independent contractors. The recently enacted Employee Fair Classification Act (EFCA) codifies provisions of an executive order signed in 2015 and, for the first time, requires employers to report their compliance in properly classifying employees with state occupational licensing boards and commissions.

Effective October 31, 2017, New York City employers generally may not inquire about or rely upon a job applicant’s salary history in making employment decisions. The New York City Commission on Human Rights has released an Employer Fact Sheet and a Job Applicant Fact Sheet to assist employers and employees with understanding the law.

September 20, 2017
Author:
Peter G. Pappas
In American Air Filter Co., Inc. v. Price, No. 16 CvS 13610, 2017 WL 2797794 (N.C. Super. Ct. June 26, 2017), the plaintiff’s former employee signed an employment agreement that renewed automatically each year. The agreement contained a non-compete covenant. The plaintiff alleged that its former employee received consideration for each renewing year in the form of base salary, commissions and bonuses. Significantly, however, the complaint did not allege that the former employee’s salary or bonus was increased in conjunction with the alleged annual renewals. Id., 2017 WL 2797794, at *2. Therefore, in deciding the plaintiff’s claim seeking to enforce the employment agreement’s covenant not to complete against the former employee, the Business Court concluded that there was no consideration to support the agreement at the time of the employee’s resignation in 2016 and therefore, it dismissed the claim. Id., 2017 WL 2797794, at *7-8.

Effective December 31, 2017, the North Carolina Employee Fair Classification Act, signed into law on August 11th, creates the Employee Classification Section of the North Carolina Industrial Commission. This new Section will be authorized to receive and investigate reports by employees claiming to be misclassified as independent contractors, and to share information with other state agencies, including the Department of Labor, the Division of Employment Security, the Department of Revenue and the Industrial Commission.

Most employers are familiar with legal issues surrounding the classification of workers as employees or independent contractors. Until recently, these discussions centered primarily around the decision on how a worker should be classified. Based on recent legislation in North Carolina, however, that conversation is shifting to account for the greater potential fallout from worker misclassification.